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Maliki calls for unity as blocs sit out


Published: March 19, 2008 at 8:11 PM
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BAGHDAD, March 19 (UPI) -- Though some parties stayed out of a power-sharing conference, the Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday reconciliation would decide who supported a unified Iraq.

Nouri al-Maliki said at the inaugural speech before the second conference on power sharing that reconciliation would determine "who stands in favor of the people's interests and who stands against them," Voices of Iraq reported.

Saying it was not formally invited to the conference, members of the Sunni Accordance Front did not attend. Its members, as well as members of Moqtada Sadr's Sadrist Party, quit the Maliki government in August, saying it failed to address their many grievances and perceived marginalization, leaving the Maliki government a coalition only on paper.

Maliki noted that reconciliation is not a "win or lose" game, but one that would support a unified government representing the coalition of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, VOI said.

The Awakening Councils that emerged in Anbar province to drive out al-Qaida forces were singled out by Maliki as an example of the positive results of reconciliation as "more than 50,000 armed men" now serve on the councils.

Recent legislation allowing former Baath officials to participate in the government, the passage of a $48 billion budget for 2008 and the release of 3,500 suspects were also mentioned as positive steps toward healing the sectarian rifts tearing at the Iraqi political system.

Maliki praised the "sense of patriotism" of those ministers remaining in the central government and said they contributed to the gains realized so far.

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